


real daddies

by sleeponrooftops



Series: raising webhead: a parenting guide, attempted by the science boyfriends [27]
Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-24
Updated: 2013-06-24
Packaged: 2017-12-16 00:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/855597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeponrooftops/pseuds/sleeponrooftops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony makes a decision that could potentially change the dynamic of their family forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	real daddies

_Two months later._

_December, 2014_

“Where are you two going?” Bruce asks as Peter skips into the lab, bundled up, and calls for Tony to hurry up.

 

“Secret shopping!” Peter sings, grinning.

 

“Tony,” Bruce sighs, “I thought we agreed we weren’t going to do presents, like last year.”

  
“We aren’t,” Tony says, shutting down his monitors with a quick command and getting up.

 

“Peter, what kind of secret shopping?” Bruce asks, and Tony starts to tell Peter to be quiet, but Peter slaps a hand over his mouth and shakes his head.  “God, he’s seriously turning into you,” Bruce grumbles, turning back to his work, “Please don’t spend an obscene amount of money.”

 

“What do you qualify as obscene when you live with a billionaire?”

 

Bruce just groans and doesn’t respond, so Tony goes over to Peter and scoops him up, smiling when he giggles.  They head down into the garage, and Tony leaves Peter to get into his seat while he finds a jacket and scarf.  “ _Are_ we getting daddy something?” Peter asks as Tony’s pulling out onto the street.

 

“Yeah, we are.  Peter, I need to ask you a question.”

 

“Okay!”

 

“Do you know what marriage is?”

 

“Mrs. Johnson told us about it when we were doing our family trees.  She said that when two people love each other very, very much, they get married, which means they have to stay together forever unless they decide that they shouldn’t be together, and then they get a divorce.  She said it’s like a contract.”

 

“Yeah, that’s one way of putting it,” Tony says with a small laugh, “Does anyone ever ask you about daddy and me at school?”

 

“Well—yeah,” Peter says, shrugging, “Sometimes, they ask why I don’t have a mommy, but I just tell them that I have two daddies instead, but it’s like the same thing, so it doesn’t matter.”

 

“No, I meant—do they ever ask why your daddies aren’t married?”

 

“You’re not married?” Peter exclaims loudly, his mouth dropping open.  Tony laughs even as he continues, “Mrs. Johnson said it’s not good to have kids before you’re married, that a long time ago people thought it was _scan-day-loose_ to do that.”

 

“Scandalous,” Tony corrects him, “But nice try.”

 

“Scandalous,” Peter repeats slowly, and Tony nods.  “Well, I think, if you and daddy love each other very much, and I know you do, then you should be married.  Why aren’t you?”

 

Tony sighs, scrubbing a hand through his hair, “I’ve never really been good at relationships—or, really, _people_.  I dunno, nothing ever lasted or meant anything until I met Bruce.  Then, it was like—it was like I could breathe, like I’d been suffocating my whole life until I met him.  I could talk without worrying if he knew what the hell I was saying, I could disappear for days at a time in the lab, and he would get it because he would come with me, and just—he was a _real_ person that I wanted to spend time with and get to know and understand and never give him reason to be disappointed in me like every other person in my life.  Uh—woah, sorry, little man, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about.”

 

Peter shrugs and says, “Is it like being scared forever and then not all of a sudden?”

 

“Yeah,” Tony says, looking back at him in surprise.

 

“I was always so scared living with Mister Nick, and even before that, though I can’t really remember it.  I never wanted to leave my room because I was afraid I was going to hurt someone or get in trouble, but then I came to live with you and daddy, and I wasn’t scared anymore.”

 

Tony just smiles and turns on the radio, switching it to AC/DC so Peter can sing along, and then he calls Steve, waiting for him to pick up before he says, “I need to ask you for a pretty huge favor.”

 

——

 

_One week later._

_Christmas_

Peter comes barreling into their room at six o’clock, shrieking about Santa Claus and presents, and Tony reaches a hand over the side of the bed, grabs a fistful of shirt, and hauls him up onto the bed, dropping him in between them.  “It’s too early,” he whispers as Peter starts fidgeting, “Go back to sleep.”

 

“But it’s _Christmas_ ,” he whispers loudly, beaming when Tony cracks open an eye to look at him.

 

“Make you a deal,” Bruce mumbles, curling an arm around Peter and pulling him against him, “If you go back to sleep until seven thirty, I’ll make you pancakes.”

 

“Do we have any grapefruits?”

 

“You can have a grapefruit.”

 

“What about a mango?”

 

“A mango, too, sure.  Deal?”

 

“Deal,” Peter whispers before hunkering down and closing his eyes.  He manages to drift off, but he wakes up again at seven, crawls down to the end of the bed, and jumps off, running across the hall to his menagerie, where he feeds his pets and plays with Cooper and Keira in turn, and then he turns around and _screams_.

 

“I think he found the fish,” Bruce mumbles into Tony’s hair.

 

Peter’s little feet come slapping down the hall and into their room, and he practically flies onto their bed, jumping around.  “I HAVE FISHIES, I HAVE FISHIES!” he screeches before he flops onto his bum, giggling wildly.

 

Tony rolls over onto his back and looks down at Peter, smiling tiredly.  “How many fishies?” he asks, and Peter flies off their bed and back to the menagerie.

 

A few minutes later, he’s screaming again, “FIVE!  AND A HERMIT CRAB!”  He runs back into their room and jumps up and down, still shouting, “Come look, come look!  I bet I can figure out what kinds they are!  _Daddies_!” he ends on a whine, and Bruce laughs, patting Tony even as he sits up.

 

“We’ll be right in, Peter,” he says even as Tony groans.

 

They eventually get up and get dressed, go in so Peter can name each of his fish—Marcus the blue leg hermit crab, Benjamin the copperband butterfly, Bumblebee the yellow assesser basslet, Optimus the coral beauty angel, Zachary the blueline trigger, and Victor the diamond goby.  After that, Bruce convinces Peter to let him make breakfast while he opens his stocking, and then they break for pancakes.  They spend the rest of the morning watching Peter open presents until he’s just sitting in a pile of wrapping paper trying to put something together and refusing help.  He stops midway and looks up at Tony, wide-eyed.

 

“Hey,” Tony says, nodding, “You wanna do that thing we talked about?”

 

“Yes!” Peter exclaims, straight-faced, before he scrambles to his feet and runs out of the living room and toward his room.  Bruce looks over at Tony, who just shrugs and feigns innocence.

 

“Am I going to be mad at you?” he asks.

 

“I certainly hope not.  That would be very awkward,” Tony says as Peter comes down the hall.

 

He comes around to the sofa, little hands closed over something, and he looks at Tony, who nods to Bruce, so Peter goes over to Bruce, holding out his hands.  “This is from dad, but I helped pick it out,” he says, smiling widely.

 

Bruce extends a hand, looking over at Tony as Peter deposits a small bag in his hand and then runs back over to his wrapping paper, sitting down and picking up Ollie, holding him up to his face so he can just see over his head, between his ears.  Bruce opens the bag and takes out a box, his breath catching, and he pauses, just looking at it.  “What is this?” he asks finally, looking over at Tony.

 

“Open it.”  Bruce holds his gaze for a few moments before obeying, lifting the lid, and Tony starts talking before he can, “I’m done with people not believing in us, not believing that you and I are real, that we don’t love each other and we’re just doing this for kicks.  I’m sick of being called the playboy and the runaway.  I love you, Bruce, more than anything in the world, and I don’t know how I’d survive without you in my life.  You are the only person I’ve ever wanted to impress and not be a disappointment for and actually learn how to be a good man.  You make me better just by being here.”

 

“Tony,” Bruce says brokenly, taking one of the two rings from the box, “What is this?”

 

“I’m done being science boyfriends,” Tony says, “I want to be science husbands.  I want to be _your_ husband.”

 

“Say it.”

 

“Will you marry me?”

 

“ _Yes_ ,” Bruce says, reaching over and pulling Tony toward him, kissing him hard and long until Peter’s making gross noises, and he pulls back with a soft laugh, beaming.  “I love you, Tony,” he whispers, pressing their foreheads together.  Tony just kisses him again, fisting his hands in Bruce’s hair and holding him there.

**Author's Note:**

> I’M DOING A DANCE, I’M SO HAPPY. I CAN’T WAIT FOR YOU GUYS TO READ THE NEXT ONE, IT’S EVEN BETTER.
> 
> Also, I am going to be doing a massive time jump quite soon—I think after the next two fics. Nothing too huge, I’m just thinking a few years to move things along. Don’t forget to leave your thoughts!


End file.
